Rover Dramawerks Presents One Day Only SWEET SIXTEEN 2/19

By: Feb. 16, 2011
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One Day Only SWEET SIXTEEN, Rover Dramawerks' signature short plays festival from concept to curtain in just one day, will be presented on February 19 at 8:00 p.m. at the Courtyard Theater, 1509 H Avenue in Plano. Ticket prices are $12 for adults and $10 for students, seniors, and STAGE members. Tickets may be purchased online at Rover Dramawerks' website at www.roverdramawerks.com or at the door with cash, check, or credit card.

The sixteenth installment of this one-time performance of seven short plays will be the result of 24 hours of work by approximately 60 participants - actors, writers, directors, and technicians. An entire one-act play festival will be written, produced, directed, rehearsed, teched, and performed in a single 24-hour day.
Rover Dramawerks is pleased to announce that BJ's Restaurant and Brewhouse and Urban Crust will once again serve as some of the show sponsors for One Day Only SWEET SIXTEEN. Through their generosity, all the participants will be fed throughout the event.

One Day Only was first produced in the metroplex in May of 2000 by Audacity Productions. Rover Dramawerks teamed up with Audacity for the next three festivals, and Rover went solo to present One Day Only 5 through 15. This kind of exciting festival has also been done in New York on Broadway with major stars such as Billy Cruddup and Christina Ricci, and at the Old Vic in London, spearheaded by Kevin Spacey.

Rover's One Day Onlys have become very popular among playwrights, directors, and actors in the area. Would-be participants are warned that all positions fill up fast, and it's all first come, first served. Writer positions for One Day Only SWEET SIXTEEN were filled within minutes of sign-ups beginning. The seven playwrights include Eric Arpelar, Jason Hensel, Shelley Kaerh, Douglas Meyer, Blaise Miller, ElizaBeth Miller, and Oren Sachs.

The seven directors include Henry Hartman, Lindsey Humphries, Nic Pfost, Carol M. Rice, Karen Robinson, R. Bradford Smith, and Ashley White. Nearly forty actors are signed up.

The general timeline of a One Day Only: At about 9:00 p.m. on Friday, February 18, this motley group of writers, directors, and actors, as well as some technicians, get together for the first time. A brief get-to-know you session includes providing ideas for the writers (to be drawn out of a hat) and taking pictures of the actors (no headshots and resumes are allowed). Then the writers stay at the theatre and work through the night, each composing a ten to fifteen minute play based on the subject he/she drew.

At 6:30 a.m., the directors return. They quickly read the seven plays, decide who directs which play, and cast the plays from the pictures taken the night before. The actors show up around 8:00 a.m. and meet with their director and fellow cast members. The writers go home to get some sleep while the plays are blocked, memorized, and rehearsed by the director and actors.

Tech rehearsal begins around 3:00 p.m. Then curtain is at 8:00 p.m., when all of the plays are presented for the first time at the Courtyard Theater. Seven world premieres!

Participants of previous festivals have come from as far north as Durant, OK; as far east as Shreveport, LA; and as far south as Austin, and a director for this festival will be coming from Arkansas.

One hundred four original short plays have been presented in previous festivals, and many have seen additional performances with such organizations as Flower Mound Performing Arts Theatre, Lakehill Preparatory School, Allen High School, Punch Drunk Comedy, and the Out of the Loop Festival in Addison, as well additional performances with Rover Dramawerks. "Two Bubbles" by Greg Romero from One (More) Day Only, was named "Best of the Fest" at the 2004 FronteraFest in Austin and was a finalist for the 2004 Heideman Award (the annual award that Actors Theatre of Louisville gives to the best 10-minute play in America) and has been published with Playscripts, Inc. Twenty other One Day Only plays have recently been picked up by Next Stage Press, to be published in three volumes of "The Best of One Day Only."

Rover Dramawerks is a resident theatre at the Cox Building Playhouse and Courtyard Theater in Plano, producing a full season of six mainstage shows in addition to two One Day Onlys per season and also offering year-round classes for children and adults.

For more information about One Day Only, please call Rover Dramawerks at 972-849-0358 or visit www.roverdramawerks.com.

 



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